Meet 1800s Journalists Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland with Adrien Behn Through a New Podcast
By: Devon DiComo
On November 14th, 1889, two female writers entered a race to go around the world in under 80 days. Nellie Bly went east, and Elizabeth Bisland headed west.
This eleven part series will unpack their whirlwind adventure and what it was like to circumnavigate the globe alone as a woman at a time where women had virtually no rights. Storyteller and travel writer Adrien Behn brings Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bislands’ experiences, emotions, and adventures to life in this serialized podcast.
A Race Around the World brings the incredible accomplishments of these two bold solo female travelers to life, going through every country and feeling they face while braving the world on their own, in under 80 days.
Adrien on A Race Around the World: Based on the True Adventures of Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland
Devon DiComo: How did you get started with this story? When did you first hear of Nellie and Elizabeth?
Adrien Behn: I launched the second season of my travel podcast on March 16th, 2020 (also my 30th birthday). I quarantined with my boyfriend — now fiancé — upstate near my childhood home. We would take these long walks and talks along the dirt roads around the sheep farm we quarantined in. Since 2020 was such a great year for travel, we talked about how I could do a travel story without actually being in a place. I was also really jonesing to do a serialized show and was reminded that one of my guests in the first season of Strangers Abroad told me about the Nellie Bly race around the world story. So I started researching it and realized it was not one but two women, Elizabeth Bisland included, who left New York to race around the world on November 14, 1889.
They both published their own accounts about their adventures, and there is a unified book 80 Days, by Mathew Goodman. The more I read Nellie and Elizabeth’s tales and first-hand experiences, I saw so much of my own experiences reflected back. I was taken aback how so much has changed in terms of technology and transportation but not much has changed around the experiences women have when they travel solo. As a solo female traveler — I’ve been to five continents, 35 counties, and 20 U.S. states and stayed in some cities and countries for months at a time — I also know the flavor of loneliness and existentialism that happens when you travel. I’ve had homesickness and unwarranted marriage proposals and magical moments with strangers. I know the high of feeling so free and independent and strong in a way no pet, no relationship, no career path would ever make me feel. I wanted to honor these two women who traveled at a time when vaccines were nonexistent and sexism was rampant, when most women around the world had no rights and were considered second class citizens. What also surprised me is that this story is relatively unknown given that what they accomplished is unbelievable.
I knew I could tell this story, sit in what it must have felt like, and bring the listeners there with Nellie and Elizabeth and all of the countries and feelings they go through.
DD: Why do you think this story needs to be told?
AB: We have been told we cannot do the impossible. Women have been systematically and intentionally written out of history. Stories of their accomplishments, inventions, and intelligence have been swept under the rug. We are living at a time where these stories are being unearthed and it's our job to write them back in and inspire the next generation to be bold.
DD: I heard you’ve been spending years on this podcast! What has the process been?
AB: Not for nothing, going around the world takes a long time, even when you’re writing about it. It's taken me well more than 80 days to do this. I read through both of their accounts, highlighted the emotional and story plot points, and divided the episodes based on location and days. In each episode listeners go through the same days with Nellie and Liz as they travel further and then closer to each other. So in some instances, it's just a Nellie or a Liz episode because the other is just sailing through the Pacific Ocean.
Then I wrote out the script, recorded it, listened, and revised. Recorded again, listened, revised, and added sound design. My partner — and a phenomenal podcast writer and editor in his own right — Sam Dingman listened to every recording and gave back great notes that I (mostly) applied to each new draft. There are plenty of things I would do differently now having gone through the experience, but I’m happy with where we are now.
DD: What has been your favorite part about putting together this podcast?
AB: Definitely recording and then scoring it. I have an acting background, so the performance is really fun. Then finding the right music and playing with sounds, scoring, and pacing is just such a delight. It's for sure my favorite part about podcasting.
DD: How did Nellie and Elizabeth as writers impact the way you wrote this podcast?
AB: First off, phenomenal question. Nellie and Liz are COMPLETELY different writers. Nellie is a hard-hitting journalist, and Liz is a poet. Nellie’s accounts are about action and characters and stakes and Liz will write about frost on a window for a page. So what has been such a gift in this story is being able to write about the same places but from slightly different perspectives (because they both go to almost the same exact stops but in opposite directions). So depending on where we are, I will highlight certain aspects about a place based on what Nellie is more likely to notice vs. Liz.
DD: How have Nellie and Elizabeth impacted you as an avid traveler?
AB: Well, I have the lofty goal of going to every country at least once before I die. So nothing has changed there. But since now there are just more things I appreciate that I have that make travel easier, like online check-in, neck pillows, Advil, and vaccines to name a few. In my readings, Nellie longs to be able to fly. Ever since I read that, every time I get on a plane I do it for her.
DD: What do you hope listeners get out of this story?
AB: I know that there are thousands of stories of women doing the impossible. Maybe not to such a dramatic degree as going around the world in 80 days, but I want to share stories about women being bold and adventurous because there are for sure more out there than is in our zeitgeist.
I also want to take the fangs out of solo-female travel because I think that there are plenty of people who are afraid to do it. I personally have found, in my lived experience, that the world is much more protective than predatory. So, I feel like if Nellie and Liz can travel alone in 1889 without the amenities we have today, anyone can do it. It’s especially imperative for women to get a taste of real independence and hear their own voices clearly. I have found I can hear my own voice, wants, and needs best when I have done month long journeys alone, and I think everyone, regardless of identity, should experience that at least once.
DD: What does this story say about how journalism has changed and evolved over the years, both in terms of the scope of projects and in terms of who gets to tell these tales?
AB: This story came out at the dawn of yellow journalism. So it was all about sensation, selling as many papers as possible, and keeping people addicted to buying papers. The business model has changed but keeping our attention hooked has not.
I will say that over 50% of journalists in America today are women and are reporting on more than recipes and high-society fashion. Although, they do get harassed at starkly higher rates than their male counterparts. So two steps forward, one step back.
DD: Anything else you want to mention?
AB: I love Nellie and Liz. I’m so impressed and inspired by them, even when they write about being cranky.
You can find and follow A Race Around the World wherever you get your podcasts.
